The present invention relates generally to the surgical field, and more particularly to a novel blood vessel occluding instrument which provides for atraumatic occlusion of blood vessels without using large cumbersome clamps or clips. It is particularly useful for smaller vessels.
The necessity for an atraumatic means of occluding small vessels has greatly increased with the advent of coronary artery surgery. The anatomy, location and fragile nature of the coronary vessels precludes the use of conventional instruments such as clamps and clips for the routine occlusion of such vessels.
To obtain a secure anastomosis, the periarterial tissue must be left in place. Accordingly, the dissection of an artery in order to obtain a sufficient length of the artery to apply a conventional occluding device such as a clamp, significantly increases the technical difficulty of obtain a secure anastomosis.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a novel vessel occluding instrument for the atraumatic occlusion of small vessels, which is light in weight, of low profile, and which causes no distortion of the vessel.
Another object is to provide such an instrument which is relatively simple in construction and which can be produced in large quantities at a relatively low cost.
A further object is to provide such a novel occluding instrument which provides for the occlusion of an artery in an anterior posterior direction without significant distortion of an arterial wall except at two points.
Yet another object is to provide a vessel occluding instrument in which the vessel is entrapped and occluded between two resilient surfaces, one of which is relatively large compared to the other, whereby the trauma usually associated with unyielding materials is significantly diminished.
An additional object is to provide such a vessel occluding instrument which includes means for manipulating vessels, as by pulling them from side to side or elevating them in order to obtain an unobstructed view of the vessel and without the necessity of pinching the structure between the fingers. More particularly, it is an object to provide such an instrument in which the aforementioned resilient surface forms an obtuse angle with the surgical tape to facilitate such manipulations.
I have discovered that the above objects and advantages are achieved by a vessel occluding instrument which includes a rigid body member which has two lengths of resilient tape extending from the surfaces thereof adjacent one end, a resilient pad in engagement with the bottom surface, and a slot at the other end of the body member for receiving and releasably holding one length of said tape in a selected adjusted position to occlude a vessel between the pad and said length of tape.